This is my album titled, “Buchanan.” Release date 01/16/21. Album cover photo by Kelley K. Robinson ♥️
All of the songs are in some form inspired by Buchanan, TN. It’s a place with rich musical heritage. It’s only two hours up the road from Nashville. Damn near everybody on my mama’s side of the family who lives near or around there was or is a musician. My grandma, my grandpa, my mama, my uncle Jerry, my cousin James, and my brother. At family gatherings, if folks weren’t playing something, you know they was sangin’ along!!
My aunt and uncle lived at Bickerstaff Bottom in Buchanan. Johnnie Ruth was the oldest of my mama’s siblings. They were once five red headed daughters and the inspiration for my 2015 album title, “Attack of the Killer Redheads.” I liked to call her “Ain’t Johnnie Ruthless” because she was not someone you’d ever want to have cross words with. My uncle Jerry was a retired military man. He did tours in the Vietnam War both in the Army AND the Navy. We’d all go down to their place and it never failed, as soon as I’d roll up, Johnnie or Jerry would ask, “Hey young’un, did you brang yer guitar?”
My brother Gabe and I would play acoustic guitars by the gigantic bonfire that I’m pretty sure could be seen by the astronauts in the orbiting space stations. The complete lack of light pollution out there made for supreme stargazing.
My cousin James always made us his famous venison stew that slow cooked all day long over an open fire in a big ‘ole cast iron pot just like the old days. He’d also take us on hayrides through the woods of Bickerstaff Bottom in the trailer behind his refurbished 70s Allis Chalmers tractor. The whole family would be there. Even our grandparents back before they passed.
This album is a tribute to those days. It’s dedicated to my grandma and grandpa, Margaret Malone Anderson and Johnnie Freeman Davis and my Ain’t Johnnie Ruthless and my uncle Jerry Bickerstaff. They all stayed together until death did they part. The good and the bad, the sweet and the sour, the fun times and the conflicts, they stuck it out. They’re all laid to rest at the Beaver Dam Cemetery in Buchanan just four miles down the road from Buchanan School.